With A-List creator for The CultureJordan Peele’s new film Us dropping this week, we’re taking a look at his first major motion picture. The breakout hit and instant horror #CultureClassic Get Out.

Get Out is a satirical horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Black Panther’sDaniel Kaluuya as a young black man who uncovers a disturbing secret when he meets the family of his white girlfriend. The film dropped February 24, 2017 with small expectations but immediately blew up and became a cultural phenomenon. The twist (which we won’t spoil) became the water cooler moment of 2017, the “sunken place” became a real place in The Culture’s lexicon (go ask Kanye), and the memes…oh the memes. Critics also praised the screenplay, direction, acting, satirical themes, and it’s unique take on race relations in America today. The film made countless top 10 lists and was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, and won for Best Original Screenplay making Peele the first black winner in that particular category.

And just as importantly, it handled it’s business business. Get Out grossed $255 million worldwide with a minuscule (in Hollywood) $4.5 million budget. It finished with a net profit of $124 million meaning it made over 27 times it’s money back and finished as the tenth most profitable film of 2017.

Black horror is an often forgotten genre relegated to low-budget fare or independently made and distrubred status, but Get Out made the genre front-and-center in Hollywood leading to Peele signing deals to produce even more (including Us) and rebooting and hosting The Twilight Zone. Get Out was a true game changer in the genre and huge leap for black cinema as a whole. And that is why it’s an officially certified #CultureClassic.

#FunFact: In the Best Original Screenplay category, Peele was the first black person to win and only the fourth ever nominated. The other three are John Singleton, Spike Lee, and Suzanne de Passe).

If you enjoyed that look at a throwback Film/TV classic. Check out more of our #CultureClassics:

An increasingly rare sight in today’s musical landscape, VanJess is not only a group, their also real-life sisters, Ivana and Jessica Nwokike. They began their career humbly performing cover songs on YouTube. Just two girls, a piano, and two incredible voices. In 2011 their cover of Drake’s “Headlines” went viral and served as a turning point giving them the drive and confidence to seriously pursue a career in music. And after 7 years of grinding and honing their craft, in November of 2018 the group announced signed to the RCA joint venture label Keep Cool (the same labels as fellow Music Monday alum Lucky Daye).

Living the early portions of their lives in Nigeria before moving to California when they were 10 and 8 has given the sisters a broader view of the world which translates into their music. They attended a performing arts elementary school in Nigeria and in high school they performed as a duo in talent shows in America. Literally performing across the globe before they were even professionals. They have two projects under their belts, their debut EP 00 till Escape which released in 2015 and their debut album Silk Canvas which dropped in 2018 to critical acclaim and included features by Masego, GoldLink, Lil Simz, Leikeli47, and Berhana.

And of course being sisters they vibe perfectly together, their voices virtually melting together in melodic harmony. Their music has been described as a throwback to the 90’s R&B era in which they were raised, sidestepping the “now” sound for a smoother, more classic, dare we say, timeless sound. That is even more evident when you see the duo have listed Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Xscape, TLC, and SWV as their biggest musical influences. Lofty aspirations no doubt but no matter how you look at it (or listen), VanJess is a group on the rise.

Step into the Comedy Trap House with the troop of talented, comedic creators for The CultureDormtainment. They’re hilariously insightful, thought provoking, and sometimes just flat out stupid. They discuss and crack jokes on current events, personal life theories, and their journeys to make it in Hollywood. They make you laugh, think, and inspire you to chase your dreams like they are. They are over 180 episodes deep with millions of downloads and their YouTube sketches have over 170 million views.

Recent episodes have featured topics ranging from the greatness of Nickelodeon for 80’s babies, the infamous R. Kelly interview, why you shouldn’t fight naked, Game of thrones and the benefits of dating a Chick-Fil-A employee. It’s laugh-out-loud stuff. So if you need a break from all the heaviness in the world today make a visit over to the Comedy Trap House, just remember to take your shoes off before you enter.

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the release of one of The Culture’s most classic #CultureClassics, “Electric Relaxation” by A Tribe Called Quest.

“Electric Relaxation” was actually the second single from A Tribe Called Quest’s third album, the classic Midnight Marauders. The ode to New York Around The Way Girls is a smooth as it gets for a hip-hop track. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg’s usual outstanding chemistry was on another level and this record and Phife explained why that was saying “On that record, he wrote my lines and I wrote his—actually, we wrote our own lines, and when we recorded, we traded. That’s why the whole back and forth, you know what I mean?”

The song contains a jazzy sample of “Mystic Brew” by Ronnie Foster. Add that iconic hook and even though you don’t really know what it’s saying your head is nodding. It’s a mood, it’s a vibe, it’s a classic.

#FunFact: The song was featured as the opening theme song for The WB’s sitcom The Wayans Bros., from 1995 to 1996, for the show’s first and second season.

If you enjoyed that check out some of our other throwback Hip-Hop#CultureClassics:

Repping Washington, D.C. Courtney Shanade Salter aka Ari Lennox has had a slow but steady ascension in the music game and is now finally starting to breakout big time. She has been signed to J. Cole’s Dreamville Records since late 2015 and has made appearances on multiple Cole projects including the song “Change” and even opened for Cole on his 2017 4 Your Eyez Only Tour. On October 21, 2016, she released her debut EP titled Pho to rave reviews from music journalist and her buzz on the underground R&B scene started to grow.

Ari really began to breakout however with the release of her the first single, “Whipped Cream” for her debut album in July of 2018. She released four more singles called “40 Shades of Choke”, “Grampa”, “No One” and “Pedigree”. She then appeared on the Creed II soundtrack with Cole on the breakout track entitled “Shea Butter Baby” and released it as an official single for her debut album of the same name that dropped of February 26th 2019. The music video surpassed 3 million views on YouTube within the first week and is fresh off tour with 6LACK so things are now moving fast for Ari.

Blending classic Motown, modern R&B, and new-age soul into one beautifully artistic package is Ari’s sound. And for inspiration she has referenced many of the best musical creators for The Culture like Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Bilal, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill, and Minnie Riperton. And her soulful sound and unabashedly pro black lyrics are clear indicators of those influences. Ari Lennox is making new music with a bit of an old feel to it that R&B fans of The Culture should no doubt be on the lookout for.

Sneakers are a mainstay of The Culture. They are one of the main ways individual style is expressed and today on The Feat. we’re featuring one of the top sneakerhead YouTubers, Jacques Slade.

The kick game is big business and you can think of this channel as the CNN of sneaker YouTube. Jacques does almost daily updates and reviews on sneakers plus a little sports, music, entertainment, tech and other random cool things he comes across. But if course shoes are the main attraction here. Jacques is extremely well connected so he gets a lot of information and kicks before anyone else and get exclusive interviews with star athletes and star shoe designers as well.

Jordans to Pumas. Lebron to Travis Scott, sneakers and The Culture are both represented well on Jacques’ channel. Plus his video production is crazy well dope and basically second none so you get the best looks at every work of art sneaker he features.

This week in our #CultureClassics series we take a look at The greatest interlude in hip-hop history “PSA” from all-time great creator for The Culture, Jay-Z.

Interludes, a staple of hip-hop in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Sometimes freestyles. sometimes partial songs, sometimes comedic skits, every rapper had several per album. From Biggie to Ice Cube, Ludacris to Nas, interludes helped fill out many a rap album. And most were just that, filler. But the Jay-Z came along…It was the interlude heard ’round the world. Or better yet, a “Public Service Announcement” for anyone who thought Jay Z had lost a step as he was intending to “retire” after the release of The Black Album in 2003.

Produced by Just Blaze, (with the help of a sample from the song “Seed of Love” by Little Boy Blues that dropped way back in1968) the record was a soulful banger that captured a raw East Coast attitude and hip-hop lyricism at it’s absolute pinnacle. With just 2 minutes and just over 16 bars, Hov slayed the competition and any naysayers while adding another notch to his claim for the mantle of greatest MC of all-time.

#FunFacts: “PSA” was almost the interlude that never happened. Just Blaze made the beat after The Black Album was already completed and submitted and as a matter of fact, Jigga was previewing it for the press when Just delivered the beat to him and Jay recorded it 4 bars at a time between listening sessions with different members of the press and the completed record was thrown onto the album at the absolute last minute. And the video featured cameos from Missy Elliot, Jermaine Dupriand was also the first appearance and public acknowledgment of the future Mrs. Carter, Beyonce.

If you enjoyed that look at a throwback Hip-Hop/R&B classic. Check out more of our #CultureClassics:

Having a great signing voice is indeed one way to make it in the music biz. But having a great pen game is a great way to stand out from your contemporaries. And for this week’s #MusicMonday selection we’re featuring one of the top singer/songwriters you really need to be listening to right now, Eric Bellinger.

A true student of his craft, Bellinger began writing songs in 2010 when he was invited to work with illustrious songwriting collective The Writing Camp and has some serious credits to his name. He co-wrote “Lemme See” by Usher, “New Flame” by Chris Brown, “You Don’t Know” by Tank, and even went pop with “Right Here” by Justin Bieber among many other major collabs. In 2011, Bellinger won a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Album for his contributions to Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E. album.

Letting his writing serve as a stepping stone into his own career, in 2014, Bellinger released his debut studio album, The Rebirth. Bellinger followed with two more studio albums, CuffingSeason and Cuffing Season Part 2 in July 2015 and December 2015, respectively and released two mixtapes in the spring of 2016, Choose Up Season and Eventually. Then Between 2016 and 2017, Bellinger released three more EPs as part of his Eric B. for President series, (the title referencing the hip-hop classic Eric B & Rakim song “Eric B. Is President”. Term 1, released in September 2016, an acoustic remake of the EP released in January 2017, and Eric B for President: Term 2, released in March 2017. with G.O.A.T. (the combiner of the two EPs) going gold. Yes this creator for The Culture stays creating.

In his music, Bellinger embraces today’s trends in R&B but with his own unique flare. He is part of the wave of blurring the lines between R&B and rap as he tends to forgo the smoother, more poetic lines that characterized R&B in past eras. Instead, his lyrics are often more straightforward and even conversational. But a lot of times they’re lighthearted. He will be explicit but with a tone that shows he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s just as quick to flex his vulnerability as he is his playboy side which all comes together to make an interesting listen for a fan of R&B music and The Culture.

#FunFacts: When Bellinger was in high school he met his future manager Nieman Johnson whop is the grandson of Jackson 5 songwriter Bobby Day. Bellinger also earned a football scholarship to University of Southern California, but turned it down to record and tour with R&B group AKNU. The group was signed to Epic Records by legendary music exec (and former husband of Mariah Carey) Tommy Mottola And lastly, Bellinger is married to singer and actress La’Myia Good (sister of actress Meagan Good).

If content is king then visual content is the king of kings. We use photographs and videos to communicate so much today. And thanks to YouTube it’s given people of color the platform to tell their stories their way. And on The Feat we’re featuring one YouTubers doing it for The Culture. and the gamers, Xavier Woods and his UpUp DownDown video game channel.

Most video creators use YouTube as their path to fame but Austin Creed is the complete opposite. He was already famous as a four-time tag team champion, founder, and 1/3 of the WWE stable The New Day. And he has used that fame to explore another of his passions, videogames.

Woods/Creed is a natural born master of ceremony but besides him just being entertaining, what makes his channel so good is that he brings in other WWE superstars to play and talk. It’s cool to see different sides of these sports entertainers as they break character, laugh and check out both new and classic videogames. The channel has even expanded into sneakers with fellow New Day member Kofi Kingston and his sons checking out some of the new releases in the kick game.

Trips to retro arcades, game store hauls in Japan, game convention and tournament coverage, early game access, and even live streams, UpUp DownDown has all of your blerd gaming needs covered so check him out and game on.

This week we take a look at one of black TV’s unsung #CultureClassics, the 90’s family sitcom, Family Matters.

Family Matters was a TV comedy that launched on ABC and was a major component of it’s iconic TGIF block of shows and ran from 1989 to 1998. The series revolves around the Winslow family, a middle-class African American family living in Chicago and their day-to-dat family life and all the good, bad, and funny that entails.

The series originally focused on the character of police officer Carl Winslow and his family: wife Harriette, son Eddie, elder daughter Laura, and younger daughter Judy (who appeared until the character was mysteriously and randomly written out in season four) and Carl’s street-wise mother, Estelle. Midway through the first season, the show introduced the Winslows’ nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel played by Jaleel White, who quickly became its breakout character and eventually the show’s main character spawning merchandise and catch phrases still used in The Culture today and turning White into a 90’s pop culture icon. The show covered a wide variety of topics from the usual comedic teen dating and school struggles to serious issues like drugs, racism, and even the struggles of being a black police officer. Through it all, the main focus was on family and even though it could be a little bit (ok a lot) corny, the positive portrayal of a black family in the suburbs was a welcomed site for it’s millions of viewers of color.

And having such a long run (9 seasons), Family Matters made history as it became the second longest-running non-animated U.S. sitcom with a predominantly African-American cast, behind only The Jeffersons and it’s 11 seasons. Having aired 215 episodes, Family Matters is also ranked third all-time, behind Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (254), and The Jeffersons (253).

And the show lives on via syndication and streams on Hulu so right this very second, somewhere in the world someone is having a wholesome laugh and singing “As the days go by”…

#FunFact – The show was actually a spin-off of the then hit show Perfect Strangers, where Officer Winslow made his TV debut as a guest star setting the ball rolling for the eventual Family Matters series.

If you enjoyed that look at a throwback TV classic. Check out more of our #CultureClassics: